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SF sues gun companies over high-capacity magazines

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- San Francisco is suing three gun accessories companies and one gun show promoter, alleging they sold disassembled high-capacity magazines disguised as repair kits in violation of California law, the city attorney said Monday.

The companies and the gun show promoter were trying to circumvent a state ban on the sale of high-capacity magazines by calling them repair kits, City Attorney Dennis Herrera said in the statement. But the kits can easily be assembled into high-capacity magazines like those used in recent mass shootings in Connecticut and Colorado, Herrera said.

"The gun businesses we've sued today think they've devised a clever end-run around California law by selling fully functional high-capacity magazines that have simply been disassembled into a few easily reassembled parts," Herrera said in the statement. "Our litigation intends to prove otherwise."

Herrera said the companies named in the suit sold the magazines online. They are Oregon-based 44Mag Distributing, Texas-based Exile Machine and Ohio-based Copes Distributing. Herrera also sued Utah-based gun show promoter B&L Productions.

A representative from Exile Machine declined to comment, while calls to the other companies late Monday afternoon were not immediately returned.

The state enacted a ban on the sale, import, or manufacture of new high-capacity magazines in 1999, according to the city attorney's statement.